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5 Days Of Equality Campaign Recognizes Revoked Same-Sex Marriages

Same-sex marriage was legal in one Australian territory for just 5 days before being overturned by the High Court. One year later, GLAAD seeks to celebrate and validate the 31 couples whose marriages were voided as a result.

Working with Razorfish New York, LGBT advocate and news organization GLAAD launched 5 Days of Equality, a social media-style anniversary celebration for 31 same sex couples who were married last year and then had their nuptials pulled out from under them five days later.

Last year, the Australian Capital Territory passed a bill that legalized same-sex marriage in that territory. This bill went into effect on December 7, 2013, and many same-sex couples immediately seized this long-awaited opportunity to finally legalize their union.

However, Australia’s High Court overturned the legislation just 5 days later, saying it was inconsistent with Australian federal laws. Consequently, the 31 same-sex marriages that occurred within this brief, five-day period were rendered void.

GLAAD launched an effort to celebrate the one-year anniversary of these same-sex couples, despite their marriages being deemed illegal after just five days of marriage. Using the hashtag #5DaysOfEquality, the campaign urged the public to share their well wishes.

Thousands of messages submitted via Twitter and Facebook under the hashtag were converted to letterpress printed cards and sent to the couples. An event was also held for the couples in a gallery where many of the anniversary messages were displayed for the couples and their friends to enjoy.

Here’s a video summarizing many of the anniversary wishes:

And here’s a video highlighting the event at which the couples were presented the messages:

Of last year’s tragic and very personal reversal, Chris Teoh, who married his partner of 11 years, said, “In less than a week we’ve been married and we’ve been unmarried, at least on a legal level … [but] we’re still married. I’ve made commitments to Chris to spend the rest of my life with him.”

And of this year’s campaign, GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis told Mashable:

Equality starts with personal stories. For the 31 couples in Australia whose marriages were robbed from them, we want them to know that there are many people across the globe who recognize and celebrate their love and commitment. By sharing their stories, we can show people around the world the importance of marriage protections for all loving couples.

Here’s one member of one of the couples thanking GLAAD and Razorfish for the recognition: